Recording: Merganzer

Artist: Merganzer

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at The Music Gallery (X Avant XI – Night 2), October 14, 2016.

Merganzer - unknown

Opening in the round for Pauline Oliveros' surround-sound improvised explorations, Mike Posen had the benefit of an audience that was out for some Deep Listening. Surrounded by the audience on all sides, she obliged with an instrumental set that, instead of drawing from her popcraft skills, explored textures and swooning musical drifts. (That said, it wasn't all complicated Advanced Listening as there was one section that had a Dark Side of The Moon vibe to it.) Segueing seamlessly between different ideas that would be looped and stretched out, this showed a keenly-organized musical mind at work.

^* Does anyone know the title to this one? Please leave a comment!

Recording: Merganzer

Artist: Merganzer

Song: Songs Without Words

Recorded at Markham House: City Building Lab (Wavelength Music Festival 16 – Day 2), February 13, 2016.

Merganzer - Songs Without Words

Wavelength's sixteenth anniversary festival was a little less adventurous than last year's sesquidecade spectacular. For the first time in recent memory, the festival settled into one home base for three nights and the programming eschewed retrospective turns for a future-focused weekend, daring audiences to invest in the musical here-and-now. The lone excursion away from The Garrison came with this afternoon all-ages show in Markham Village — a cozy up-close-and-personal affair that offered a chance to sit on the floor and listen. The field trip vibe was completed with a school bus ride that shuttled attendees away to the evening show. Since the last time I saw Mika Posen presenting her solo songs she has been joined by Katie Hurdon on keyb and vox. A key addition as their voices blended effortlessly and beautifully, adding even more depth to Posen's chamber-pop pieces, occasionally held together by ghostly fragments of looped violin. (And also, since the last time I saw Posen playing, these songs have been released as an album.)

Recording: Merganzer

Artist: Merganzer

Song: Mirror Maze

Recorded at Holy Oak Café, June 1, 2015.

Merganzer - Mirror Maze

Now an Ottawa resident, Mika Posen was well-known in these parts as a member of Forest City Lovers and Timber Timbre, as well as ad hoc supporting roles with plenty of other friends. She started stretching out to show off her own songwriting talents a couple years back as The Meek, which has now evolved into this ducky project. The songs are performed on the "mikatron", a keyboard using custom-crafted samples from her own violin, giving the music a warm, soft-edged feel. Most of the set was performed with Ryan Carley helping out, and Posen would subsequently return the favour in Carley's set. Until a promised full-length reaches us in the fall, you can investigate the project over at Posen's soundcloud.